The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details
Pitscow Sand and Gravel Formation
| Computer Code: | POWSG | Preferred Map Code: | notEntered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status Code: | Full | ||
| Age range: | Anglian Stage (QA) — Wolstonian Stage (QO) | ||
| Lithological Description: | Sand with subsidiary beds of gravel. Dominantly pale olive-brown and pale pinkish brown quartzose and felsitic medium to coarse sand. Typically horizontally stratified with some planar and trough cross beds indicating transport towards the west. The gravel component diminishes upwards and is typically of pebble-cobble grade. Angularity varies significantly from rounded to angular. Clast lithologies are dominated by felsite, with smaller quantities of quartzite, psammite, hornfels and red and grey granites. Interpretated as a periglacial fluvial deposit (possibly glaciofluvial in part). | ||
| Definition of Lower Boundary: | In Kirkhill quarry (infilled) southeast face A and east face at the base of the unit rests unconformably on unweathered felsite bedrock. In southeast face B the formation in part both overlies and interdigitates with felsitic rubble of the Kirkton Gelifluctate bed. To the southwest at Leys quarry (disused), northeast face, a sand and gravel body interpreted to be the Pitscow Sand and Gravel Formation, unconformably overlies the Denend Gravel Formation. Here the Pitscow Formation rests in a -2m deep erosive channel feature. | ||
| Definition of Upper Boundary: | At both Kirkhill Quarry (infilled) southeast face A and east face, and Leys Quarry (disused), northeast face, the upper boundary of the unit is gradational, undulatory boundary with the overlying bleached, podzolic Kirkhill Palaeosol Bed. | ||
| Thickness: | To 4m | ||
| Geographical Limits: | Buchan, northeast Scotland. The formation is currently only known within the immediate vicinity of Kirkhill quarry (infilled) and Leys quarry (disused) on Sheet 87W (Ellon). The unit may be regionally significant and present locally across northeast Scotland. | ||
| Parent Unit: | East Grampian (Albion) Glacigenic Subgroup (EGAG) | ||
| Previous Name(s): | Pitscow Sand And Gravel Formation
(POWSG)
Kirkhill Lower Sand and Gravel/Kirkhill Gravel [Obsolete Name and Code: Use POWSG] (-4272) Kirkhill Basal Sand/Kirkhill Gravel [Obsolete Name and Code: Use POWSG] (-2983) Pitscow Member [Obsolete Name and Code: Use POWSG] (-2984) |
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| Alternative Name(s): | none recorded or not applicable | ||
| Stratotypes: | |||
| Partial Type Section | East face, Kirkhill Quarry (infilled), 7km southeast of Stricken, Buchan, northeast Scotland. Connell, Hall and Romans. 1984. | ||
| Partial Type Section | Northeast face, Leys Quarry (disused), 6.5km southeast of Stricken, Buchan, northeast Scotland. Hall and Jarvis. 1993. | ||
| Reference(s): | |||
| Connell, E R, Edwards, K J and Hall, A M. 1982. Evidence for two pre-Flandrian palaeosols in Buchan, Scotland. Nature, 297, 570-572. | |||
| Connell, E R and Hall, A M. 1987. The periglacial history of Buchan, Scotland. 277-285 in Boardman, J (Editor), Periglacial Processes and Landforms in Britain and Ireland. Periglacial processes in Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. | |||
| Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors). 2000. The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan; Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) | |||
| Connell, E R and Hall, A M. 2000. Kirkhill and Leys quarries. 65-67 in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (editors), The Quaternary of the Banffshire Coast and Buchan: Field Guide. (London: Quaternary Research Association.) | |||
| Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Romans, J C C. 1984. Kirkhill Quarry. 57-81 in Hall, A M (Editor), Buchan Field Guide. (Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.) | |||
| Hall, A M and Connell, E R. 1991. The glacial deposits of Buchan, northeast Scotland. 129-136 in Ehlers, J, Gibbard, P L and Rose, J (editors), Glacial Deposits in Great Britain and Ireland. (Rotterdam: Balkema.) | |||
| Hall, A M and Jarvis, J. 1993. Kirkhill. 225-230 in Gordon, J E and Sutherland, D G (editors), Quaternary of Scotland. Geological Conservation Review Series: 6. (London: Chapman and Hall.) | |||
| Sutherland, D G. 1999. Scotland. 99-114 in Bowen D Q (Editor), A revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Special Report of The Geological Society of London, No.23. | |||
| Merritt, J W, Auton, C A, Connell, E R, Hall, A M and Peacock, J D. 2003. The Cainozoic geology and landscape evolution of north-east Scotland. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheets 66E, 67, 76E, 77, 86E, 87W, 87E, 95, 96W, 96E and 97 (Scotland) | |||
| 1:50K maps on which the lithostratigraphical unit is found, and map code used: | |||
| none recorded or not applicable | |||